We closed on our house on Friday..we spent the weekend making some changes, mostly just the dining room for right now, we painted, and then yesterday we took up the carpet because we were going to put some laminate down..well when we took up the carpet we realized the floor has a sag in it. The reason for the sag is due to a window that is in the basement that is deteriorating, and the beams around it apparently are not ideal for support. We firmly believe that the sellers attempted to hide this because the carpet was JUST put down, and you can't help but notice it with that carpet off (tile underneath), but with the carpet on we didn't even notice. They also had their dining room table placed over there, which now that we think about it, was an odd place.

Our inspector noticed that the window in the basement was in need of being replaced, but apparently did not notice what was going on in the above level.

I am so disappointed, and nervous. We really don't have the money to have a contractor fix this, and won't for quite some time probably. Do we have any recourse, with the inspector, and/or sellers?? We are going to call the inspector today, and relay our findings and see what he has to say.

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Real Estate Law - Buy Sell A Home - Closing

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What if there are problems found with the house after the closing?

This really depends upon the type of problem you find. If you find that the seller has walked off with some fixtures, which should have been included with the house, you might be able to sue to get them back, but this is a problem that might be better found in a walk through inspection just before the closing. Any major problem that the seller should have disclosed before the sale would probably justify a lawsuit, while a problem like termites, which should have been discovered in inspection, will likely leave you no recourse but to solve it yourself. A problem such as noisy neighbors is your problem; it is best to spend time in the neighborhood before making an offer or signing the contract. Don't wait until the closing to see if there will be a problem. In this regard, it is important to review the seller's "Disclosure Statements" carefully. If the property is being sold "as-is", the buyer should pay for its own inspection to uncover any problems readily apparent.

Maybe these websites could help you with particulars

Real Estate Law – Lawyers, Attorneys & Free Legal Information

Defects After Closing | DoItYourself.com

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You may be able to get the home inspection service to refund some of the inspection fee for failure to recognize the severity of the problem. Not sure you have any recourse with the seller, sorry to say.

Is it something that must be fixed now? Or can it wait? If it can't wait due to the risk of additional deterioration, perhaps you can make payments on the work.

I hope that you're still able to enjoy your dream of home ownership!

cj/

the home inspection service we used guaranteed their services and if something was found after moving in (I think up to a year but maybe not), they would pay for the repair and/or replacement. They cost a lot more than the others but we wanted that guarantee

I hope you can get some money from the inspection company for it

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That was pretty shady.

It sure does not seem like the inspector did his job properly.

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We ended up with the same sort of thing, ours was a huge structural problem that cost us almost $10,000 to fix. You have no recourse, sorry to say, at least we didn't. I talked to the lawyer, the realtor, inspection company, etc. After the closing that's it because you can't PROVE they knew anything. You can be pretty sure and I'm sure they knew, but there's no way to prove they did.

You are at the mercy of a good inspector and yours didn't find the problem. The best bet would be go after the inspector, but you probably won't get anywhere.

Sorry it's not better news. Get a couple estimates too so you know actually how much it will cost to fix and how big of a problem it is before you call anyone.

Good luck!

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shortly after we bought our first house years ago, we actually had the electrician show up at the house to tell us the previous owner opted to not have an issue with the house fixed. we not only called our agent at the time but also the previous owner. since we already closed on the house, we were pretty much out of luck. i sympathize with you though - it's really frustrating running into situations like that, especially when you think they tried to "hide" the problem.

Call your real estate agent and see what they have to say. If the defect you found was something that was known by the seller and hidden and/or not put on the disclosure, you may be able to go after the seller. It probably depends on the laws in your state and your agent should be able to tell you what your next steps can be.

So I talked to my real estate agent, and she obviously wanted nothing to do with it, but seems very concerned about what the lawyer will say. We emailed the inspection company with the problem, and will give that until tomorrow, and then I will call him, as well as the lawyer. One of the big things we wanted to make sure of was that our inspector was insured for something that may come up..so I think this would apply. Honestly I would think that it could be pointed back to the sellers also because apparently they have done some cobble jobs on this problem (my husband went and looked at it again more closely today, and you can see some way where they attempted to fix this). The seller also told us the window was only rotted out because his dog dug there, and water seeped into it.

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I think it's unlikely that you have no recourse. Most states have provisions now which require sellers to disclose known defects. Clearly they knew about this, they were trying to hide it! I don't practice law in NY, obviously, but I would be surprised if NY didn't have this kind of law.

Second, this is exactly the kind of thing you hire an inspector to find. I think you have a case against him as well for negligence and breach of contract.

I think contacting your lawyer is exactly the right thing to do.

The problem with this comes if they THINK they fixed it, or believe it was fixed and therefore it was no longer a problem then they don't have to disclose it. And you can't prove they were trying to hide anything, you just can't prove what they knew or didn't know. Their attempt to fix it is enough to say they addressed the issue before they put it on the market and made necessary repairs.


IMO the best bet is that the inspector should have seen something that major.

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Here's my .02



If the window in the basement is dry rotted and the beams are bad, and it's visible to the naked eye, and the inspector didn't call it in the report then he's liable. He couldn't have noticed the issue in the dining room if the floor was covered up, because home inspectors do visual inspections only. Dh's family are all home inspectors, and that's what the concensus was.

Did you ask the sellers to replace this defective window before you bought the house? I'm wondering if you would have had someone replace the window before you bought the house, then the problem would have been discovered? Just thinking aloud here......

How about a Home Warranty - Did that come with the house purchase? Not sure if they fix that type of thing, but it might be worth looking into! Good-Luck!!

Unfortunately, home warranties might have clauses about 'pre-existing conditions' whether you knew they existed or not.

We had a pipe freeze during the first year that we owned our home and they told us that they would not pay for the leak because it was a pre-existing condition, what? It was not mentioned on the home inspector's report... faxed that to them but they still said, 'NO!'

Anyway, we ended up cancelling the home warranty and had them give us back a pro-rated amount for the rest of the year... We figured there was no point in having the home warranty if they weren't going to cover problems...

I think azmom has a good idea if your home warranty company will help you on things that were not found by the inspector. Maybe worth a try?

My thoughts are with you. What a bummer.

See if you can get chummy quickly with one of the neighbors and see if they ever heard the previous owners discuss or any other problem them had. That way you would have the proof that this was a known but not disclosed defect. Can't hurt to try.... But I think contacting an attorney will be a good bet for you
Good luck in any case

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